75 lines
4.0 KiB
Plaintext
75 lines
4.0 KiB
Plaintext
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██╗ ██╗██╗███╗ ██╗██████╗ ██╗ ██╗██╗██╗ ██████╗
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██║ ██║██║████╗ ██║██╔══██╗██║ ██║██║██║ ██╔══██╗
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██║ █╗ ██║██║██╔██╗ ██║██████╔╝██║ ██║██║██║ ██║ ██║
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██║███╗██║██║██║╚██╗██║██╔══██╗██║ ██║██║██║ ██║ ██║
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╚███╔███╔╝██║██║ ╚████║██████╔╝╚██████╔╝██║███████╗██████╔╝
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╚══╝╚══╝ ╚═╝╚═╝ ╚═══╝╚═════╝ ╚═════╝ ╚═╝╚══════╝╚═════╝
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================================================================================
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About:
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This is a MinGW distribution that:
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- Updates quarterly/semi-annually for a stable toolchain.
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- All-in-one package. No package manager, just extract and use.
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- Everything is in simple to understand bash.
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- Debuginfo is included *inside* the binaries. For easy debugging for both
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developer and user.
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- Fully native, no cygwin.dll linked with *any* binary. (Except git, but eh.)
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What this distribution is *not*:
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- "Fully Secure", this is meant for offline desktop apps and games. If you need
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security over stability, such as for a Password Generator. Use something that
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provides the latest packages such as MSYS2.
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- Minimalist, while it's not that big compressed, it'll definitely be bigger
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than an MSYS2 install with *only* the packages you need.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Why:
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When porting my programs to Windows, I always found it frustrating that there
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was no "stable" MinGW distribution. Plenty of rolling releases, but no stable.
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My gripes with the other distros were:
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MSYS2: Because it's a rolling release, I find myself running into unexpected API
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changes. This is frustrating as it forces me to forcefully use a newer
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library while on Linux. Not fun.
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Cygwin: You ever tried using MinGW with Cygwin? There's no documentaton on *how*
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to use it, and i've never successfully gotten anything to build. If I
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needed to port a non-graphical unix program, it's good. But for
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graphical applications or games, it's a no go.
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I then looked at the more "vanilla" MinGW builds, many of them included their
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own software on top of the distribution. Which is mostly fine, but I wanted to
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choose my own software.
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And thus, I began the journey of making my own MinGW Distro.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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FAQ:
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Q: Why not cross-compile from Linux?
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A: Virtual Machines are cheap, and cross-compilation is a pain in the ass.
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----
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Q: Why not use the Visual Studio tools instead of MinGW?
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A: I'm more familiar with GCC than I am with Cl or Clang. I prefer the more
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"unix" way of how the folder structure is laid out. Not to mention, many
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libraries require gcc or bash to even build.
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----
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Q: Isn't this not the best for security?
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A: If your application needs security over stability, I highly recommend
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MSYS2. This is mainly for offline desktop apps and games, where security
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doesn't really matter much.
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----
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Q: Why are binaries not stripped?
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A: To retain the debuginfo so you can more easily get backtraces. Useful for
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users too, so they can *give* you said backtraces.
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----
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Q: Can I add a package to this distribution?
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A: Sure! Look at PORTING.txt for more details on how to get your port
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included.
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----
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Q: Can I use this in proprietary/commercial software?
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A: Each library has it's own License. But all the scripts here are licensed
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under Apache-2.0, so, for those, you can.
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----
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If you have any more questions, open an issue or e-mail me at dev@iotib.net
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